Love Juseyo
by Mintacia
Summary: On an international field trip, Marinette accidentally discovers Chat Noir's identity. She struggles to keep her cool as she, Alya, Nino, and Adrien get into all sorts of shenanigans. From curiously shaped fish to cable cars, their trip is packed to the brim with new and interesting things. / Adrienette, One-Shot /


\- **x** \- **x** \- **x** -

사랑주세요

\- **x** \- **x** \- **x** -

Adrien was sitting at the edge of the building's roof.

This was odd because the building itself was about thirty floors tall and its street entrance door was locked by a code. Besides that, why would Adrien be sitting on top of a random building next door to their hotel?

Obviously, Marinette hadn't needed a code or an elevator. She had scaled the building easily by wrapping her yoyo around balcony rails and yanking herself upwards. She also had moved quicker than usual, so as not to be seen. It would cause quite a story if the miraculous Ladybug was spotted in South Korea, after all.

Luckily, Marinette was more than used to moving stealthily. She had weaved around windows expertly, disappearing into the shadows despite her bright red suit.

But back to the issue on hand: how did Adrien get onto the roof?

Marinette snuck closer to him and ducked behind what she assumed was some sort of chimney exhaust pipe. She was about six or seven meters away from Adrien.

She was close enough to hear him talking. Talking... to himself. _Weird_ , she thought as she listened in. "I love the mountains here," Adrien commented aloud.

"They're alright," replied somebody else in a high-pitched, kind of scratchy voice, "I've seen better."

Who was that? Marinette squinted into the darkness, trying to spot a second figure. Despite the copious amount of moonlight, she couldn't see a second person anywhere near Adrien.

There was, however, a tiny little - balloon? Maybe? - thing floating next to his shoulder. It was moving around much more than a balloon should. Also, why would Adrien have a tiny balloon? That in itself was kind of ridiculous.

Adrien chuckled lightly and said, "Plagg, you're such a pessimist."

Plagg? What kind of name was that? A weird one, that was for certain. It was hardly a name for a person, French, Korean, or otherwise.

The tiny shape moved, whizzing out past the edge of the building. "Eh, mountains aren't my thing anyways. I once had miraculous holder who loved hiking… ugh. It blowed."

Adrien laughed loudly while Marinette slid to the ground, overcome by confusion. That tiny object had said ' _miraculous holder_.' As if, it was a kwami and Adrien was its current holder.

Oh.

 _Oh my god_ , she thought, soundlessly slapping her hands to her cheeks in disbelief. No way, it couldn't be, there must be another reason behind this. Right? Although, Marinette couldn't think of anything else to explain Adrien, thirty stories up, talking a levitating, miniature creature about miraculouses.

"Hey, but I'll tell you what will make me happy," said the tiny, possibly-a-kwami figure.

"What?" Adrien asked.

"You could get me some of those fresh fish from the fish markets."

Adrien laughed softly, "Okay, fine. Maybe we can find some of those fish that Nino was talking about - the ones shaped like penises."

"Yea, don't get me those. Normal fish, please."

Both the human boy and the kwami chuckled. The kwami then - and yes, it was definitely kwami - moved closer, close enough that Marinette could make out a set of black, pointy ears and glowing green eyes.

Chat Noir.

That was Chat Noir's kwami.

Marinette lost the ability to breath. _Adrien. Chat Noir. Same person. Kwami_. These words spiraled around and around in her head. She'd accidentally spied on a private conversation and yanked down the curtain of mystery in her life. All along, she'd been patrolling, fighting, and saving the world with Adrien Agreste. Adrien Agreste, a boy whom she'd had an obnoxious crush on for four long years.

She needed to leave before both her brain and heart exploded.

Without making a noise, she slipped away, dropping easily off the building and disappearing into the streets of the little South Korean town.

\- **x** -

The next morning, they were on a bus, heading towards a fish market. Their history teacher was at the front of the bus, trying to talk loud enough that everyone could hear him. However, he held very little of their attention. It was their first true day in South Korea, after all. All of the students were enthralled by all the shops and things that their bus drove past.

Marinette's class had arrived the night before in Busan's big airport. Most of the kids had then fallen asleep on the two hour bus ride which took them from Busan to the sleepy little seaside town. They only woke up only to march out of the bus and into the hotel, once they'd arrived.

Now, it was morning, and most were fighting off jet lag as they gazed excitedly through the windows of the bus.

Everyone was caught up in their own personal, whispered conversations. Chloé and Sabrina, in the seats behind Marinette and Alya, were getting excited by every small fashion store they passed. In the seats in front of Marinette and Alya, Adrien and Nino were deep in conversation about the social power of K-pop.

This morning, Alya was considerably more talkative than Marinette. "It's kind of weird to not able to read anything," Alya was commenting, her eyes glued to the stores that they were passing by, "except for the occasional foreign store. Oh my god, is that a Domino's?"

It was a dominos. "Yep," Marinette replied, trying to sound excited. Honestly, she had bigger things on her mind than what transplanted pizza stores existed in South Korea. Like, for example, the fact that Adrien was Chat Noir.

She was still in shock. Her mind was running in circles: _Adrien is Chat. Chat is Adrien. How did I not know this?_

"Okay, so we're going to visit the fish market first!" Announced the teacher, "We're approaching it now. Afterwards, we'll head to the cable car, which will bring us to the luge."

The students cheered in response. There were a lot of cool stuff to look forward to on this trip. On the following days, they'd be touring historical battle grounds, exploring temples, going to the beach, visiting the major cities, and more. But their first day didn't bring them very far from the hotel, which Marinette was fine with. She liked the idea that she could possibly sneak away and go hide back in the hotel.

Maybe she could tell their teacher that she was sick. Fake some snot and coughing and just hang back the rest of the week and a half in the hotel. That way, she could avoid the situation. Or would that make her a chicken? She'd have to deal with it eventually...

"Hell- _lo_?" Alya's hand appeared in front of Marinette's face, "Earth to Marinette? Are you there?"

"Yes, I'm here, I'm just… jet lagged." That was a lie. It was much more than that. Marinette didn't like lying to Alya.

"Okay, well, try to look alive. We're almost at the fish market! And, I hear they have penis-shaped fish." Alya's eyes flashed devilishly.

"Oh, not you too," Marinette sighed, remembering Adrien mentioning the same thing.

Alya laughed like a maniac. "Did you hear Nino and Adrien talking about it in the hotel at breakfast? Hey, I have an idea. Let's make it a contest!"

"A… penis fish contest?" Now Marinette couldn't help but grin at the absurdity of it.

Instead of responding, Alya was standing up, leaning over the seats in front of them, and poking the boys. "Hey guys, how about a bet?"

"A bet? You've got my attention," Nino replied with a playful grin that matched Alya's.

"Let's see who can find the penis fish first." When those words escaped Alya's mouth, Marinette died a little. What an awkward competition! Marinette didn't even really want to see a penis fish. And yet, she was getting roped into Alya's schemes, like always. Oh well… honestly, Marinette wouldn't have it any other way (Alya was her best friend, after all).

"Done!" Nino immediately agreed, then he stopped to think, tapping his finger against his chin. "How about we take a picture of it when we find it? That way there's an electronic time stamp on it."

Twenty minutes later, Marinette and Alya were holding hands, standing at the edge of the group of their classmates. Their teacher was explaining the historical significance of fish markets, or something like that. Neither girl was particularly listening. Alya was too busy scanning the nearby stalls while Marinette was thinking again about how Chat Noir and Adrien were the same person.

"Okay, let's all meet back up here in two hours! Everyone keep an eye on the time and don't get lost -" before their teacher could fully finish what he was saying, the students were on the move.

Alya was one of the first to dart away from the group, tugging Marinette behind her. "Let's go, let's go!"

They ducked and weaved their way past _ajummas_ and _ajushis_ (words their teacher had explained as meaning aunt and uncle respectively, but were used to generally refer to older women and older men). Alya was intent on scanning each stall as fast as possible, only interested in finding the penis fish.

Meanwhile, Marinette saw plenty of interesting sea critters. If Alya hadn't been yanking her forward, she would have stopped to look at the many squids, octopus, shellfish, and other critters in the tanks around them. There was also plenty of dried fish, their filets perfuming the air with pungent smells.

There was also plenty of movement from the people in the market. As the two girls hurried forward, Marinette noticed a woman grabbing an struggling octopus out of a tank with a red, rubber gloved hand. In other stall, a young woman was deshelling pale shrimp.

In some stalls, sellers were arguing with customers. Or, at least it sounded like arguing. They spoke quickly, their words full of vowel sounds that the french language didn't quite have.

Then, they found the penis fish. Sure enough, the fish were peach pale and cylindrical, with most of them around twenty centimeters long. "Penis fish!" Alya shouted, drawing curious glances from nearby locals as she rushed over to the stall.

The old man standing behind the stall watched the two girls like they were insane as Alya wrestled her phone out of her purse and took a picture of the penis fish.

"How do you say, I want to buy one of these?" Alya asked Marinette with excitement.

"What? Alya, you can't buy a fish. There's not a fridge on the bus!"

"But, penis fish, Marinette. _Penis fish_." She stressed the name, as if that would somehow make it clear to Marinette the importance of purchasing such a thing. "Besides, maybe you could offer it to Adrien. You know, like a trade -"

Marinette punched Alya's shoulder, both utterly embarrassed and admittedly amused. "Shush!" She hissed, giggling as she forced herself to frown disapproving, "I'm not going to give Adrien a _penis fish_."

"Come on, tell me how to say _I want this_ ," Alya begged again anyways.

Marinette did not speak Korean. Hell, she didn't even speak Chinese, of which she was half.

However, unlike Alya, Marinette had been listening to their teacher in the week before the trip. In class, they'd discussed important phrases in Korean that they could use on their trip. Like, for example, _juseyo_ , which roughly translated to _'please give me_.'

"No," stubbornly replied Marinette. Alya had made the decision to not learn her basic Korean phrases. Now, she would deal with the consequences. Consequences, such as not being able to buy a penis fish.

Luckily, Alya relented without too much more argument.

About fifteen minutes later, they ran into Adrien and Nino again. Both Nino and Alya started shouting at the same time, each claiming to have found the penis fish first. As the two of them began to dig through their phone's galleries, finding the timestamp of their pictures, Adrien walked over and stopped right next to Marinette.

It was loud in the fish market, so he leaned forward to speak to her. "I had to talk Nino out of buying one. He wanted to use it to prank Alya," Adrien confided in Marinette.

Marinette had to remember to breathe. It was such a casual comment, a story that was more than normal for either Nino and Alya. The two were always looking for creative and inappropriate ways to one-up each other in craziness. And yet, Marinette found herself enchanted by every word Adrien said.

 _Adrien is Chat Noir. I'm in love with my own partner._

Oh, and she couldn't forget one extra little fact: Chat Noir always joked about being in love with Ladybug. He regularly flirted with her and openly pursued her. Hell, he'd asked her out on dates more times than she could count.

What if some of that was real? Maybe that was the reason why Adrien had never had a girlfriend throughout all of high school, cause he had feelings for Ladybug.

Instead of responding like a normal human being should with, you know, words and stuff, Marinette babbled like a toddler, "Yea those two, haha, so crazy, they are, yea, crazy."

Her cheeks were solidly on fire. There was something wrong with her, like a malfunction in her brain circuits.

Adrien looked at her funnily. "Yea, they're crazy," he agreed slowly, but by his tone, he probably thought she as the crazy one at the moment.

 _Good job, Marinette,_ she told herself.

The frustrating thing was that Marinette had long ago worked past her inability to speak around Adrien. Despite the fact that she'd never stopped harboring a crush on him, she'd learned how to behave normally around him. Only now, with the new information she had, her tongue was once again proving worthless.

"We won!" cheerfully barked Alya. She was holding her phone up like a trophy. Nino shrugged in defeat.

"Congrats," Adrien laughed amiably.

"Yea, we're the best," Alya said with a grin. "Okay, well, let's see what else is here!" Then, she grabbed Nino's hand and started to drag him through the crowd, effectively leaving Marinette and Adrien behind.

Marinette's safety net was leaving her. "Alya, wait," she squeaked.

That's when Adrien took her hand. "Come on, we don't want to lose them!" He told her, before starting to drag them through the crowds.

How many times had she held Chat Noir's hand? Never in a romantic way, sure, but sometimes their stunts of fighting required grabbing onto each other and using each other's weight and speed. Was this the same, or was this different?

Holding Chat Noir's hand during a battle didn't send shivers down Marinette's back. Holding Chat Noir's hand didn't make her heart race like this.

Well, maybe now it would. Now that she knew… how on earth was she going to fight next to Chat Noir without losing her nerve?

Speaking of nerve, Tikki had suggested something crazy last night. Once they'd gotten back from accidentally spying on Adrien, her kwami had whispered to her, _maybe you should tell him who you ar_ e _and that you know who he is_. With that bold statement, Tikki had floated off to bed, leaving Marinette even more winded than before.

It was a game changing idea. Tell Adrien that she was Ladybug and that she knew he was Chat Noir… was she ready for that? Could she handle that? It was both exhilarating and terrifying. Marinette was only a teenager. Nothing in her life so far had prepared her for such a kooky, fantastical (potential) love story.

Adrien dragged her through the crowd, barely keeping up with Nino and Alya. Despite this and despite the hum of the fish market, Marinette could hear the ridiculous comments that Nino and Alya kept making about the animals they passed.

"Whoa, these shrimps are crazy fat!"

"Whoa, look at this freaking looking flounder!"

"This fish looks sad - do you think it knows it's going to be eaten?"

"Whoa, are those stingrays? They can kill, you know. That's why we have to eat them first, you know, preemptively."

Then, before they knew it, they'd reached the end of the fish market. This end of the fish market ended at a decently busy street, full of cars and foot traffic.

"Let's check out a cafe!" Nino suggested.

Barely a hop and a skip down the street, there was a fancy looking cafe. The window depicted several coffee concoctions of mint, chocolate, and vanilla flavors. In big letters above the coffee, it said ' _MEGA COFFEE_.' However, that was the only thing written in the Latin alphabet on the entire display. All of the other information was in hangul (the Korean alphabet system).

The four French teenagers let themselves into the cafe and made their way to the counter. It was up to Marinette to order since she was the only one, as she learned, who really paid attention to the language lessons their teacher as offered. Even Adrien gave her a shy shrug, pointed out that he was focused on learning Chinese, and asked her to order for him too.

To make things easy, she ordered four of the mint drink ( _mint mocha sa gae juseyo_ \- please give me four mint mochas). Then, to her horror, the cashier launched into full and fast Korean, rattling up several questions in rapid succession.

Marinette waved her hands in front of her and said, " _Aniyo_. Ah," this was where her minimal Korean knowledge began to break down, "non _hangug-oh_ ," was the best she could come up, which was just a mash up of French and the Korean word for the Korean language.

The cashier looked at her funny but didn't press any further in Korean. Instead, she just pointed at the screen that faced Marinette, the one that bore the cost of the four drinks added up.

Before Marinette could dig out her wallet, Adrien was already reaching over her shoulder and handing the cashier two green ten thousand won bills. "Ah, Adrien, thanks," Marinette said, blushing more so at how close he was to her rather than at his generosity.

He was right there, his arm brushing against her shoulder as he withdrew his hand. Marinette swore she could feel his body heat, emanating through the back of her t-shirt. Either that, or her imagination was going nuts.

She made the mistake of glancing over her shoulder and up at him. Good lord, Adrien was _right there_. His green eyes met her blue ones and he smiled big. He looked like he didn't have a care in the world.

Meanwhile, Marinette was melting on the inside. How was she supposed to survive this trip?

Adrien put his hand on the small of her back and then half turned, clearly searching the rest of the cafe to see where Alya and Nino were sitting. Marinette gulped heavily, overly aware of how his hand pressed against her.

Alya and Nino had planted themselves in the far corner of the cafe under a set of twinkling lights. The couches were white and gray with pink pillows and pink blankets. Everything about where Alya and Nino were, seated side-by-side no less, screamed romance.

As if he didn't notice the problem at all, Adrien began to walk over to their friends, his hand on Marinette's back, navigating her there along with him.

"Isn't this place adorable?" Alya asked pleasantly as Marinette and Adrien dropped on the fluffy couch across from her and Nino.

"I like the decor," replied Adrien, "it kind of reminds me of the new Agreste Valentines collection."

On a normal day, this hint towards the secretive future fashions of the Agreste brand would have sent Marinette into a fan girl fever. Today, it just made her think about how the real face of Chat Noir was plastered all around Paris on advertisements.

Talk about hiding in plain sight.

"Okay, so, I totally want to go into that convenience store across the street next," Nino spoke up excitedly.

"I'm in," replied Adrien, "I want to pick up some Korean snacks."

"Good idea, I'll buy drinks!" Alya agreed.

Marinette was staring at the pillow next to her. It read, in pink, stitched letters: _I LOVE YOU SPONTANEOUSLY_. It was better to think about the overly enthusiastic pillow then about how Adrien's thigh was currently pressed up against hers.

"Hello, Marinette?" said Alya for the second time that day, waving a hand at Marinette.

"Oh, sorry, I was… um. Sorry."

"That's fine…" Alya replied, frowning, "but where are you today? You're so distracted."

"I've noticed it too," Nino agreed, nodding.

"Did something happen?" Adrien asked, sounding concerned.

"Oh, no no no!" Marinette quickly responded, raising her hands up halfway and shaking them as a _no_. "I'm just… thinking."

"About?" Alya prompted.

 _Say something unrelated. Literally anything, just to satisfy them. It doesn't matter what you say._ Marinette told herself all of these things before opening her mouth and saying the first word that popped to her mind, "Ummm… cats."

All three of them stared at her. "Cats?"

Whoops. That wasn't the right thing to say. She needed to steer her lie away from Chat Noir. "Uhhh…" The gears in her mind turned. "Stray cats. Like the ones we saw last night?"

They all murmured 'aah' and nodded. Luckily, that was a little nugget of truth. When they arrived at the hotel, the class had spotted two stray cats hanging out on the sidewalk. In reality, this was nothing surprising. However, it was cat related and it was real.

Most importantly, it had nothing to do with Chat Noir.

"Maybe we can try and catch them?" Nino suggested, going along with the conversation.

"Catch them?" Alya scoffed, "and do what with them?

"Smuggle them into our suitcases?"

"Unfortunately," Adrien said with somber amusement, "I think Alya's right. There's really not anything we can do about them." Then, he reached up and squeezed Marinette's shoulder, as if to reassure her about the fate of the stray cats. Stray cats that she really, honestly, wasn't that concerned about.

She was more concerned about the cat sitting next to her. Marinette tilted her head to look at Adrien and couldn't stop her next comment: "We probably have enough cats in France."

Adrien turned his own head and met her gaze, then froze. Marinette didn't immediately register his reaction, though. She was too busy trying to imagine what his face looked like with a black mask on.

"France doesn't have a lot of stray cats?" Nino stated, although it sounded more like a question, like he suddenly wasn't sure of his own statement.

"Other than Chat Noir," joked Alya with a laugh.

That's when Marinette recognized the apprehension on Adrien's face. She snapped herself out of her own thoughts and tore her gaze away from him and redirected it at the table. There were alarm signs going off in her mind. _Act normal_ , she told herself, _stop staring at him like that._ She did her best to look normal as a casual reply to Alya's dangerous comment slipped right out of her, "yea, when Chat Noir's in Paris, there's definitely one too many of him."

 _When._ The odd word choice occurred to her only after the whole sentence had escaped her. Beside her, Adrien froze.

"When?" Giggled Alya, raising an eyebrow, "What, is Chat here in South Korea with us? Does he follow you, Marinette, to protect you from evil?"

"Follow me? No no no. Of course not, don't be silly. It's not like he's in our class. Or here. Hahaha. Cause he's definitely not." With every word she said, her panic got worse. She sounded damn near squeaky by the end.

"That'd be super cool if he was in our class, though," Alya replied, as if she hardly noticed Marinette's over-the-top behavior. Which, in all honesty, she probably didn't. Alya was rather accustomed to Marinette's regular anxiety attacks.

Adrien wasn't. And, he was barely breathing now, one of his hands covering his mouth while the other drummed on his thigh.

Marinette no longer trusted her own voice box. She simply shrugged in response to Alya and tried to ignore the growing pit of horror that had logged itself in her chest.

The cashier girl showed up with their four drinks. While Nino and Alya gushed at how delicious the drinks were, Adrien and Marinette sat in painful silence. Perhaps Nino and Alya would have been noticed the way that Adrien was looking at Marinette (which was nervously) if they hadn't been so quick to jump into discussing the convenience store and their plans for acquiring a great number of snacks and drinks.

Twenty minutes later, they ditched their empty cups in a nearby trash can and took off across the street for the convenience store. While Nino and Alya raced around, gathering a selection of anything and everything, Marinette and Adrien hovered at opposite ends of the store.

Alya ended up buying two reusable bags so they could carry all of their newly acquired drinks and food. She and Nino each carried one as they left the store, laughing and chatting animatedly.

Marinette and Adrien followed behind them, avoiding eye contact with each other.

As they joined the rest of the class by the bus, Nino and Alya were arguing over a package of cheese that Nino had bought. "You spent five dollars on a thing of cheese slices!" Alya chastised him.

"I thought it was a sandwich! There is literally a picture of a sandwich on it!"

"Why didn't you realize it wasn't a sandwich when you picked it up!?"

"I… I don't! I thought maybe it was a particularly solid sandwich!"

"Well, now we're going to have to eat these cheese slices. I hope you're happy."

The next stop for the classes was the cable car station. The cable cars would then bring them up to the top of one of the mountains, where'd they ride down the luge track on little go-karts without engines. Other than the fact that they were going down a track propelled solely by gravity, there wasn't much in common between this kind of luge and the kind of luge from the winter olympics.

Their class was much too large to fit in one cable car; they split roughly into three groups. The groups climbed on back-to-back cars. Only, as the remaining students - which included the four friends - climbed on the third cable car, Adrien grabbed Marinette's arm and held her back.

"Hold on," he mumbled, his eyes on the workers operating the line and the cable cars.

Marinette gulped hard as the doors to the cable car - the one that Nino and Alya were now on - closed. "Um, Adrien? Shouldn't we have… gotten on?"

"We'll get on the next one," he replied softly. She noticed that he had all his weight on his left leg; his right was jittering nervously.

The next cable car pulled up. The odd thing was that the worker controlling the movement of the line only waved Marinette and Adrien forward, before stopping the rest of the crowd.

The two teenagers shuffled into the car together. As if he was her warden, Adrien kept a light hold on her arm until the doors to the cable car clicked shut. Then, he let go and sat himself at one end of the small cable car.

Marinette sat herself opposite of him and shrunk down against the seat.

What should she say?

Could she undo the damage from earlier? Perhaps, make it seem like she was just randomly commenting about Chat Noir, with no implications towards who Chat Noir truly was? Then again, with the intense way that Adrien was looking at her.. it seemed unlikely that she could backpedal successfully.

Nearly a full minute after they left the station, Adrien finally spoke."Do you…" His words had a little quiver to them. "Ah, how to put this… you… do you… _know?_ " Adrien put emphasis on that last word.

Marinette was caught. In that moment, she made a big decision: she did not want to lie to Adrien. After all, he'd be her partner for four long years. It would be awkward, but they could work through this. First, she'd admit to knowing who he was, and then she'd make herself tell him who she was.

The first part was surprisingly easy to spit out. "That you're Chat Noir? Yes."

Adrien looked like he might throw up. He pressed both his hands together and rocked forward, his elbows on his knees. His intense stare transferred from her to the floor of the cable car.

He didn't immediately reply and Marinette didn't press for a reply. She knew he needed a moment to figure this out. Hell, she herself had imagined moments like this plenty of times. What would she say to her friends if they found out? What would she say to her parents? What would she say to the world?

She was only one person. However, she was likely one more person than Adrien had ever had _know_ before.

"Can I ask how?" He finally asked, still not looking at her.

She knew this would probably be a good time to drop her own bomb, to mention that she had been out and about as Ladybug. However, she chickened out and stuttered, "Um, l-last night. I… s-saw you." She didn't clarify any further.

"Ah shit…" he whispered softly, "I guess I wasn't being careful."

She could only shrug. For all she knew, he had been plenty of careful where any normal person might have saw him.

"Well," Adrien said after taking a deep breath, "I guess it could be much worse. I'm glad it's you rather than someone else." Marinette blushed hard. "God, imagine if Chloé had found out…"

Marinette blew out some air, both horrified and amused at the thought. Choé was definitely not known for being able to keep a secret. At worst, she'd have posted the secret on every social media platform within ten minutes. At best, she'd have hounded Adrien every second of every day for some sort of exclusive relationship with him as Chat Noir.

"I don't think I have to say that you can't… you know," said Adrien.

"Tell people," Marinette offered.

"Yea, that."

"I won't." Just like how she didn't tell anyone that she was Ladybug… including him, at the moment. Eep. Although, she knew she needed to tell him sooner than later. The longer she waited, the harder it would be. And, the more annoyed Adrien would probably be at her for withholding that crucial fact from him.

"Thanks," Adrien said with a big sigh. He was completely unaware of her own internal debacle. While she tried to gather her nerve, he began to talk about himself. "Honestly, I love being Chat Noir. I mean, there's nothing wrong with being an ordinary kid, but I really do love the whole superhero gig. It's exhilarating."

She understood him completely. Her reply was, admittedly, nothing but conceited, "And you've got a good partner, right?"

A warm smile tugged up at the corners of his lips. "Ladybug. Yeah. I absolutely love her."

Those few words managed to take Marinette's breath away. Okay, yeah, she'd heard Chat Noir say the _L_ word before. But, he'd never said it in a serious manner. Or, at least he'd never said in a way that Marinette took him seriously.

 _I absolutely love her._ Marinette considered cross stitching those gorgeous words onto a pillow.

This... was complicated, to say the least.

How was Marinette supposed to get the truth out now? _Hey, by the way, speaking of who you love, that's me - you love me. I'm Ladybug. Isn't that crazy? Hahahaha._ God, that sounded crazy. And lame. Crazy lame.

Adrien turned his attention to the mountainous landscape outside of the cable car's windows. Meanwhile, Marinette wrestled with what to say and how.

She hadn't yet figured it out by the time the cable car pulled into the station at the top of the mountain. _Oh hell_ , she thought as she stepped out of the car behind Adrien. The rest of the class was waiting there. Alya's eyes almost popped out of her head when saw only Marinette and Adrien get out of the cart, alone.

Marinette would so be bombed with questions later, she knew it. Her best friend looked way too excited.

But first, luge.

There was a heavy line for the attraction but, luckily, there was plenty to talk about. Like, for example, how Myléne and Ivan had tried live octopus. Unfortunately, the two had found out, much to their horror, that it was really, truly, live. They'd watched as the shopkeeper plucked a healthy, wiggly octopus out of its tank and then chopped it up in front of them. Of course they'd still eaten it, so as not to be rude. This was particularly impressive, considering that the tentacles were still moving, still alive, even in death. As Ivan described it, "it kind of felt like it was trying to choke you as you swallowed it."

Their story was a good distraction, but it couldn't alleviate the troubles in Marinette's life. Adrien was acting twitchy around her, like he wanted to trust her with his secret, but wasn't sure how to. Every second that passed, she felt like she was destroying her friendship with him.

Prior to getting on the luge kart, Marinette was thinking that she'd never emerge from her own worrisome thoughts. As she settled herself into the cart and snapped her seatbelt in place, she kept sneaking nervous glances at Adrien.

Then, they started down the gently sloping mountain side.

The wind swept her pigtails behind her and tickled her nose. She gripped harder on her steering handles. Next to her, Alya began hollering happily, "last one to the bottom is a penis fish!"

Just like that, Marinette's worries were temporarily swept away. The world flashed around her as she, Alya, Adrien, and Nino tangoed as much as they could in their luge karts. They laughed, they cussed, and they screamed.

Twenty minutes after they'd hit the end of the track, the four of them were still giddy. Nino had been last, so Alya was dedicated to calling him a penis fish. This sent Marinette into giggles every time. Alya was her best friend and, while some might not get Alya's style of comedy, Marinette did and wholly appreciated it.

Not that she would ever call someone a penis fish. Oh no.

"You cheated!" Nino whined.

"You wish, penis fish!" Alya gave Nino a playful shove.

It was as they were walking back to the bus that Marinette found both the perfect chance and enough bravery to take advantage of it. Adrien had made a quick comment about his shoe being untied and fell back behind the crowd.

Marinette stopped, letting the class pass her too.

Adrien had his foot up on a bench and was using it to retie his shoe.

Perhaps the luge ride had helped energize Marinette, giving her the spark she needed. She finally felt capable of doing what she needed to do. Quickly, she flitted over to him. "Hey Adrien, by the way, um um um um -" Ah, the nerve was flickering, like a dying match. She was struggling again with her words.

"Um?" He echoed, frowning in confusion at her words.

 _Spit it out_ , Marinette commanded to herself. "My kwami is cuter than yours," she squeaked.

Only someone with a kwami would know that term ' _kwami_.' It was the easiest way she could heavily hint to him she was and what she possessed (a miraculous, a kwami, an obsessive crush on him).

Then she turned and ran, like she was on fire and the only water was back on the bus.

Alya was at the back of the class group, right about to climb onto the bus. Marinette nearly tackled her to the ground, wrapping her arms around her best friend. "Is it time to go back to the hotel?" Marinette chirped, trying to keep her tone light and perky.

"Hotel?" Alya replied, stumbling from Marinette's grasp, "Not yet - we've got to eat dinner, crazypants!"

Oh, dang. Marinette was hoping to be able to hide in her hotel room for a bit.

Adrien ended up being the last person on the bus. His face seemed redder than normal. He stopped a few steps into the bus and his eyes found Marinette.

Their gazes locked together.

Marinette blushed and shrunk down into her seat. It sure seemed like her short sentence did its job. For the first time, someone not wearing a mask was giving her _the look_ , the look she'd often dreamed of and feared.

Okay, well, he wore a mask sometimes, but still. Adrien wasn't wearing it now; he was just an ordinary student who knew he was looking at Ladybug. It as an odd feeling.

The bus started to move before Adrien sat down. The rocking movement of the bus seemed to snap him out of his state of shock and he worked his way to the middle of the bus, where Nino had saved an open seat for him. Of course, like before, Marinette and Alya were in the seat right behind that.

"Dude, we almost left you behind," Nino joked.

"Yeah, I got distracted by something," Adrien replied, a hint of amusement in his otherwise somber tone, before dropping down into his seat.

The bus ride was chaotic, but in a good way. As their bus huffed it's way through the various neighborhoods, weaving around pedestrians and other cars, the four friends were inundated by Korean snacks. Nino broke into way too many boxes, handing out cookies, chips, and chocolates like Santa Claus hands out gifts. They all dutifully tried everything and, luckily, were highly pleased by almost everything.

As the bus was pulling up at the restaurant, Alya was complaining to Nino, trying to get him to give her more of a certain cookie filled with cream. Only, Nino was refusing for two reasons: one, they were about to eat dinner, and two, she'd been calling him penis fish for the past half an hour, so why should he do her any favors?

The two were still bickering as they stepped out of the bus and headed into the restaurant. Adrien and Marinette fell into step behind their friends, wisely staying out of the argument.

There was only one problem to this otherwise normal facade: Adrien couldn't keep his eyes off her. That, and he was walking so close to her that he kept lightly bumping into her. Then, while they were waiting at the entrance of the restaurant as their teacher attempted to communicate with the restaurant staff, the back of Adrien's hand kept brushing against the back of her hand. Every time it happened, it sent shivers up Marinette's arm.

Once they got inside and sat down, Adrien was quick to claim a spot next to her. Even though there was ample seating room in the restaurant, he squeezed in tight next to her, the side of his thigh pressed against hers.

Somehow, Nino and Alya's argument had switched to the BBQ's food. "If you think I'm sharing my meat with you at all, you're wrong," huffed Alya, crossing her arms after she'd sat down across from Adrien and Marinette.

"That's fine. But I'll share my meat with you." There was something sassy in Nino's tone and a Chesire-like grin on his face. "Just ask, and I'll happily put my meat in your mouth."

Alya punched him hard in the shoulder, blushing as she held in obvious laughter.

Nino yelped and laughed at the same time. "Worth it!" he proclaimed. Alya rolled her eyes, but actually looked pretty amused.

"Just so you know," Adrien told the two of them, smiling, "we share all the food here. It's family style eating."

The restaurant staff came over and began to set up the grills that were installed into the center of every table. Marinette watched curiously as the staff member, a woman in her twenties with long black hair, lifted off a metal top from the grill, revealing a large metal bowl with an opening at the bottom. Next, the woman dropped several large chunks of coals into the bowl. Then, she placed a grating over the bowl. Finally, she spun several dials, starting up the grill.

Marinette's focus on this process was broken when a clicking noise sounded off right next to her ear. She jumped a little and looked to her right. A pair of chopsticks was hovering maybe five centimeters from her, held aloft by a devious looking Adrien.

Waves of heat cascaded through her body. That expression on Adrien's face was one that she was used to seeing on Chat's masked on face. In particular, that expression surfaced when Chat was feeling very mischievous or flirty.

 _Flirty._

Was Adrien flirting with her… with chopsticks?

He clicked his chopsticks a few more times, as if implying the metal sticks were going to bite her nose off.

It was an invitation. Marinette recognized that. Calling upon her courage, she picked two metal sticks from the silverware box on the table. In the back of the mind, she imagined herself physically burying her own shyness eight feet down. This was no time or place to be nervous. She should be enjoying herself and having a cool dinner with her three best friends.

Yes, there was the complication that she was in love with one of them. But, she needed to put that fact to the back of her mind for now. She needed - and wanted - to relax and appreciate the moment.

So she snapped back at Adrien with her chopsticks, which, incidentally, started a chopstick war. At first, there were only two participants in the battle. That is, until Alya and Nino noticed what Marinette and Adrien were doing. They then each armed themselves with their own metal chopsticks and leaned forward across the table, snapping and all-but-sword fighting with their friends.

It wasn't until their teacher yelled at them for leaning over a hot grill and for being disrespectful with eating utensils that they stopped. All four were giggling as they put their chopsticks down.

Then came the food.

First, the side dishes, called banchan. Boiled quail eggs, seaweed, slices of pineapple, vegetable pancakes, and - of course - kimchi. Their server also put down one bowl of soup on the table for the four of them. They had to sneak glances at nearby tables to figure out that they were all simply supposed to share the soup and dip their spoons into the same bowl.

"You better not have rabies," Alya commented to Nino as she dug her spoon into the soup.

In response, Nino growled playfully and twisted towards Alya, wrapping his arms around her waist. She immediately started shrieking and laughing, trying not to spill the soup in her spoon as he harassed her.

While Nino and Alya wrestled, Adrien leaned close to Marinette's ear. "Don't worry, I've gotten my shots," he purred to her. A unlady-like snort escaped her, and Marinette clapped both hands over her mouth. Adrien snickered and whispered, his words tickling her ear, "You're too cute."

Ah, it was official. She'd died and gone to heaven.

Marinette couldn't even formulate a decent reply, so instead she quickly shoved a burning spoonful of soup into her mouth. He couldn't expect her to reply when she was in the midst of eating, after all!

The meat arrived. The different cuts of meat were arranged on a long platter, each slice bright red and veined with thin channels of white fat. As soon as the staff member put the platter down, all four of them attacked it with their chopsticks, arranging the pieces on the grill in front of them in what was barely organized chaos. Before long, the air around them was heavy with smoke and the smells of barbeque.

As they waited for the meat to cook, they continued to snack on the rest of the banchan. Much to Marinette's embarrassment, Adrien insisted on feeding her slices of pineapple with his chopsticks. The first time he did so, she frowned, blushed, and opened her mouth to say, _seriously?_ Only, he took that as his opportunity to push the pineapple against her lips.

She didn't even like pineapple. Despite that, she couldn't help but enjoy it this one time. Adrien grinned like an idiot as she chewed the juicy pineapple.

"Um, Adrien." A sharp voice cut through their table's food bliss. Chloé, who was unfortunately sitting at the next table over, was glaring at them, her brows knitted forward in annoyance. "I'd like some pineapple too." The way she said it sounded like she thought deserved it more than Marinette.

Adrien only shrugged, "Sorry, this is my table's pineapple."

Chloé made an awful rasping sound before crossing her arms and turning back to her table. When Sabrina, a few moments later, tried to offer Chloé some pineapple using her own chopsticks, the blonde smacked it away and across the restaurant.

As awful as it was, Marinette couldn't help but laugh. Chloé was _jealous_ of her. That was new.

Before long, they were out of both meat and banchan. Marinette was pleasantly stuffed. Sighing, she leaned back against the chair and against Adrien.

She could get used to this. All of this.

"Do you think they have desserts?" Nino asked, licking his lips.

"Desserts?" scoffed Alya, "Dude, aren't you full?"

"Yes, but I always can make room for dessert. How do you ask for stuff? _Juseyo_ , right?"

"Don't try ordering dessert," laughed Adrien, "you'll get us in trouble."

"Ugh. You guys are no fun."

The conversation drifted onwards and the four found themselves discussing the next couple of days. The beaches, the museums, the food. Alya kept trying to google things, only to come up with very limited results on French language internet pages.

"I guess we'll just have to experience everything for ourselves," Marinette teased Alya, who was mourning the lack of content on the internet.

"Or… we need to blog everything! Oh, that's such a good idea. We can -" Alya kept talking, suggesting ideas for a potential, temporary blog. Something she could run side-by-side with her LadyBlog.

The thing was, Marinette hardly heard the rest of her friend's words. Adrien's hand had drifted to her knee and settled there, gently resting. It wasn't anything scandalous; but, it as such a casual, sweet thing that it caught Marinette completely off guard.

Naturally, it sent her into another panic.

Her body was like a furnace. Heat began to pump through her veins and she was hyper aware of Adrien's hand.

Meanwhile, he wasn't acting phased in the least. He was discussing ideas for the blog with Alya and Nino, nothing more than a light dusting of pink across his cheeks. Marinette wasn't sure how he was so much more comfortable with it.

Don't get her wrong; she didn't dislike it. In fact, she really liked it. It felt… romantic. But, it was very, very new.

"Okay, time to go!" The teacher announced, causing the conversation about the Korean blog to halt. Like the rest of the students, they shuffled to their feet and out of the restaurant. The following ride to the hotel was one of the quickest yet, but this short ride still managed to have its own interesting complications.

When Marinette sat down in her seat against the window, Adrien quickly plopped down next to her, grinning deviously.

Alya was not amused. "Adrien! That's my seat!"

"I don't see why we can't mix it up!" he replied, expression switching to one of playful pleading.

"Alya, babe, sit here next to me," Nino was quick to say, before Alya could say anything else. The girl huffed, but relented to sitting down beside Nino.

Half of Marinette's mind noticed how Nino sidled up to Alya and whispered in her ear, his eyes on her and Adrien. That same half also noticed how Alya pursed her lips thoughtfully before she smiled oh-so-slowly.

The rest of Marinette's mind was concerned with how Adrien had lightly taken her hand into his. He was holding her hand. It was a small movement, a little gesture, simply the pressure of his hand around her hand.

It rocked her world.

Marinette was like an egg in a frying pan, sizzling up.

And then, in the blink of an eye, they were back at the hotel again. The class filed out of the bus, Marinette and Adrien included, hands linked together. Some of their classmates noticed and, to Marinette's embarrassment, began whispering amongst each other. Even Chloé saw them from the back of the group. Marinette couldn't quite hear what Chloé told Sabrina, but it sounded suspiciously like ' _that bitch!'_

When they reached Marinette's door, Adrien finally relinquished her hand. Marinette wasn't sure what to say, so she simply squeaked, "Okay, well, see you tomorrow!"

She was digging her key card out of her purse when Adrien leaned towards her and whispered, "Tomorrow? How about, I'll see you in one hour?"

He didn't give Marinette a chance to argue or to point out that they had a fully day tomorrow. Adrien turned on heel and walked away to his own door. Smooth as always, he fished out his own keycard easily and had his door open before Marinette had even found her card in the depths of her small purse.

"You can stop, I've got mine," Alya giggled as she caught up to Marinette, waving her card.

"See you tomorrow, ladies," Nino said pleasantly. As he passed Marinette, he turned around and walked backwards for a couple steps so that he could give her a big grin and a thumbs up, "By the way, you two are a cute couple." Marinette spluttered in response.

As Nino followed Adrien into their room, Alya grabbed Marinette's arm and tugged her into their hotel room.

"Okay, spill!" Alya demanded as soon as the door closed.

That was the beginning of thirty solid minutes of intensive questioning. Most of which, Marinette couldn't really answer. For the most part, she just told Alya that she wasn't sure what caused Adrien's sudden change of heart (a lie). She also told Alya that, no, nothing particularly exciting happened on the cable car. They had just talked (the truth).

"That's a shame," Alya had said, "that would have been so cool if you made out in the cable car."

Finally, Marinette saw an opportunity to switch the conversation around. "Speaking of making out, what about you and Nino?"

Alya was quick to dismiss that accusation, but her red cheeks spoke otherwise. "We've always just been friends."

"Alya, come on," Marinette grinned, thoroughly enjoying this new topic, "he's totally the penis fish for you."

There was a brief pause as both girls stared at each other. Then, peals of laughter erupted from each of them.

"Shoot, maybe we'll both come back from Korea with our own penis fish," Alya suggested.

Neither of them could properly breathe in between their manic laughter.

Ten minutes later, after a few more penis fish jokes, they both began to get ready for bed. While Alya dug through her suitcase for pajamas, Marinette went into the bathroom and shut the door.

"Tikki," hissed Marinette, knowing she couldn't have a long or loud conversation with her kwami, considering Alya was on the other side of the door.

The red kwami floated up and out of Marinette's purse. "Yes, Marinette?" answered Tikki, a playful edge to her voice.

"Are you sure that… it's okay that I told Adrien?"

"Well, considering he's Chat Noir, yes," said Tikki as she floated over to the sink and took a seat, "Ladybug and Chat Noir usually figure out each other's identities within a few years."

 _Usually_. That word implied a lot of things.

So Marinette asked, "Do we - ah, um, they - always date?"

Tikki giggled, covering her mouth with her pointy, triangular hands, "Oh no, not necessarily. But they are always a faithful team. After all, your miraculouses represent yin and yang. You are meant to pair together flawlessly."

"Yin and yang…" whispered Marinette as she reached up and touched the spotted earrings in her ears. "Were we yin and yang before we got these miraculouses?"

Would she and Adrien have found each other, if they hadn't been selected by Fu?

"Oh, Marinette," Tikki sighed, "I guess I can't say for certain. But, I can tell you that the attraction you feel for Adrien is your own. There is nothing artificial about it."

That was reassuring to hear. It was nice to know her miraculous wasn't actively warping her personality or her desires. "Thanks Tikki," Marinette whispered.

She brushed her teeth, switched to her pajamas, and then held her purse open so Tikki could fly back into it. Once Alya went to sleep, Tikki would switch to somewhere more comfortable. Until then, in the purse she'd stay.

Luckily, Alya was fast to fall asleep. Maybe ten minutes after her head hit the pillow, she was snoring gently. From her own bed, Marinette watched Tikki sneak out of the purse and whiz over to Marinette's open suitcase. There were some very snuggly shirts and jackets in there.

Marinette was almost asleep herself when a light rapping on the room's balcony door woke her up.

A figure that almost entirely black, save for his mop of blonde hair, as standing outside, grinning. Marinette had been hoping Adrien had been joking about the hour later thing; as it turned out, he hadn't been.

Dragging a blanket over her shoulders, Marinette crawled out of bed and tip toed over to the door. Outside, on the slim balcony, Chat Noir was resting against the railing.

It was still crazy to think that was Adrien. Although, suddenly, Marinette could see it. The blonde hair, the green eyes, the shape of his body. She was amazed that she couldn't see it before. It was sort of like a magical spell had been broken, allowing her to see Chat Noir as he truly was.

With a fugitive glance back at Alya, she flipped the latch and pushed the balcony door open a few inches. Not enough to let Chat in, but enough for her to whisper out of. "Chat," she made a point of using his superhero name, "We've got a full day tomorrow. We should sleep."

In truth, she was saying this because she was nervous. It was easier to avoid him for right now than to deal with her strong emotions.

"Bugaboo," he replied, using one of his inane nicknames for her, "I think we have a lot to talk about."

Wasn't that the truth. From what they'd learned individually from Master Fu to their theories on what caused Hawk Moth to disappear a year ago, there was plenty they could discuss.

But, Chat Noir's ( _Adrien's_ , her mind registered) green eyes were threatening to make her forget her own name.

Marinette drew a shaky breath. "What if the teacher finds us missing?"

"Mari, he's not going to check our rooms," Chat stated calmly.

"He said he'd know if we left."

"Yea, he put tape on the doors. The inside doors." Chat ran a claw along the door frame, suggestively.

"We really should sleep…" Marinette repeated herself, although she found herself easing the door a bit more open. Like a magnet, Chat Noir was drawing her in. "We're going to the beach early in the morning…"

"We've survived on less sleep," he pointed out matter-of-factly.

"True…" She was still hesitant.

"Besides, I have something to show you."

He extended a black, gloved hand. Rubbing her arms, Marinette forced herself to make a decision. Avoid what made her nervous, or jump right into it? Embrace a new reality, or remain afraid?

"Give me a minute," Marinette relented, before heading back into the apartment and grabbing some new clothes out of her suitcase. Tikki moved out of her way, giggling softly.

Five minutes, Marinette slipped out onto the balcony, dressed in a pair of high waisted shorts and a floral top (one of her cuter outfits - she felt like the occasion called for it). Then, as Alya snored in the room, Marinette snapped the balcony door closed and transformed.

Ribbons of red wrapped around her, covering her cute outfit with her typical suit. Chat Noir stood a few feet away, watching her transformation. It felt almost scandalous, transforming in front of him. At the same time, it also made her feel alive. Like, she was truly committing to this new relationship - ah, friendship - with Adrien.

She let Chat Noir lead the way.

They passed tall buildings plastered with advertisements, restaurants decorated with cartoon characters, karaoke bars playing the latest K-pop, and so more much as they zoomed through the town. Since it was around eleven at night, there was plenty of people out. The two superheros had to be careful, ducking and weaving amongst the shadows. However, both of them were more than used to this kind of stealth.

The scenery around them started to change. While the neighborhood where their hotel was was newer, full of tall, cement grey buildings accented with faded orange, this new neighborhood was primarily small, colorful houses. Most of the houses had white or light gray walls, but their roofs were a fantastic collection of colors. Blue, green, yellow, orange, red. The doors and windows were painted similarly.

The houses were the definition of quaint.

In front of a few of the houses, older folk were gathered, smoking cigarettes, playing cards, and talking. Occasionally, the pair of superheroes would pass a cafe serving coffee and alcohol to a boisterous crowd.

Chat finally slowed down when they reached the foot of a hill. The roads slopped up, climbing the hill at an almost silly angle. The hill itself was ringed with more of these beautiful, homey homes.

"We're here," he announced, glancing up at the hill.

Then, he detransformed. Now, Marinette had seen herself detransform before. She owned both a mirror and a healthy sense of curiosity. However, it was different watching someone else change. One second, Chat Noir was standing beside her, his black leather suit hugging his every curve. The next second, it was Adrien, wearing a t-shirt and jeans.

Once she snapped out of her momentary shock, she detransformed himself.

Now, they were just a regular old pair of tourists, out on the city at night.

Adrien took her hand, his sweet smile visible thanks to the glow of the moonlight and the lights of nearby shops. Marinette let him lead her up the steep hill.

Their kwamis, little spots of black and red, followed them at a distance. Like the squeaks of secretive mice, Marinette could almost hear the kwame's talking. Almost. The gentle wind drowned not only the chatter of their kwamis but also the rest of the village, giving Marinette the feeling that she and Adrien had the world to themselves.

The hill and the houses, from afar, looked like the rest of the neighborhood. However, the moment that Marinette laid eyes on the whale, she knew they were in some place unique.

The whale was made out of puzzle pieces. The ones in the whale's tail were all varying shades of gray and white, but the pieces in the rest of its body were daring blocks of solid color - blue green, yellow, orange, and red, just like the roofs of the houses. This crazy whale was painted over a blue backdrop, one that was clearly representing the depths of the ocean.

It was very impressive, this wall art. It had to be nearly twenty feet wide!

"What is this?" Marinette asked, approaching the wall curiosity.

"This is a wall art village," answered Adrien from right behind her.

So it was. As they walked their way around and up the hill, the road curving like a fat corkscrew, they kept finding beautiful artwork. From strange art that was hard to describe to adorable lineart of cats, every twist in the road revealed something new.

When they passed in front of a wall bearing two pairs of dramatic white wings, painted at about shoulder height, Adrien said, "hold on." He fished his phone out of his pocket and grinned pleadingly at Marinette.

She blushed hard and murmured shyly, "okay."

They pressed themselves back against the wings. Adrien stretched his arm forward and took the picture. "I think that'll be my new wallpaper," he whispered thoughtfully, almost more to himself than to her.

They continued to walk.

"It's kind of crazy," Adrien interrupted the peaceful silence that had settled between them, "that we've known each other all this time."

"Yeah," agreed Marinette, "I think Master Fu must have done it on purpose."

Adrien grinned in agreement. "Yea, he's crafty like that."

The conversation that Marinette had had in the bathroom earlier with Tikki popped into her mind. Glancing sideways at Adrien, she asked, "Do you think Master Fu knew that we'd…" _develop crushes on each othe_ r, seemed an inappropriate thing to say. Besides, Marinette wasn't one hundred percent convinced that Adrien's flirting with Ladybug had been real. "... get along so well?"

Adrien stopped to look at a painting on the wall, one that showed two outlines of people holding hands. "I think, maybe, it's a power of the turtle miraculous," he explained, "the turtle often represents wisdom in Chinese mythology."

Marinette couldn't help but wonder if Master Fu could moonlight as a matchmaker, if that was true.

"I mean, I've been madly in love with Ladybug for three years. And, it turns out that Ladybug is one of my closest friends." Adrien didn't look at her when he said this. Rather, he was looking at the wall art of the outlines holding hands.

Madly in love. Those were intense words. They were like a shot of dopamine straight to Marinette's brain. So, Chat Noir's flirting and compliments had been honest.

This filled Marinette with a combination of guilt (for ignoring Chat's romantic advances for four years) to giddy apprehension (as that mean Adrien was madly in love with her).

Since he was being honest, so could she.

"The ironic thing is that I never let myself like Chat Noir, because… well… I have a, um…" The words were difficult to say. She wanted to tell him that she'd always had this huge crush on him. Then again, how could she simply just tell him _tell_ him that? It was horribly embarrassing.

"Because you liked me," Adrien whispered, turning away from the wall art and stepping towards her.

She gurgled in a very un-ladylike way, surprised. "How, ah," she whispered back, once she'd recomposed herself, "how did you know?"

Adrien reached forward, gently touching the side of her chin with his right hand. "You're not exactly subtle," he seemed to purr as he spoke, "remember that time when we were fighting an akuma in your room, and you had a bunch of pictures of me?"

Oh god. Marinette had almost forgotten about that. Chat Noir - Adrien - had saw her very embarrassing wall, with one too many pictures of him tacked up on display.

Chuckling at her evidence embarrassment, Adrien took another step forward, cutting the space between them in half. "Don't worry, I thought it was cute."

"Cute. Some crazy girl has a bunch of pictures of you and you think it's cute." Marinette was floored. Her cheeks were hot enough to light a match.

"That crazy girl was my adorable friend," Adrien whispered, as his other hand snaked its way to her waist, "who always reminded me a lot of Ladybug. I just could never be sure…" His eyes were locked on hers.

 _He thinks I'm adorable_ , thought Marinette. The parts of her mind that were still functional despite Adrien being this closed began to celebrate.

Then he got closer and the rest of her mind powered down. She was utterly consumed by what little space remained between them. A thousand butterflies - beautiful, purified akumas - fluttered in her stomach.

His hand, the one resting on her waist, tugged her forward a step, until they were ever-so-slightly brushing against together. His other hand nudged her chin up an inch.

Marinette was on autopilot.

There, surrounded by creative wall art and colorful houses, Marinette pushed herself onto her tip toes and pressed her lips against his.

Like yin and yang, they locked themselves together.

They kissed for a long time. At some point, they stumbled backward until Marinette's back pressed against a slice of bare wall. There, besides the outlines of two people holding hands, they explored each other's mouths. Just like her fantasties, Marinette got to press herself into Adrien's muscular chest as their lips warred.

There was a pause in the kissing at one point, as Adrien trailed his mouth off hers and down to her neck. Marinette found herself making very embarrassing noises.

That's when an old woman emerged from one of the nearby houses and started screaming at them in Korean. Of course, they hadn't a clue what she was saying, but they could sure guess. It was probably along the lines of _get out of here, you hormonal teens, and take your PDA somewhere else!_

They were both mortified as they ran off, giggling like idiots.

Marinette had a permanent smile, one that remained plastered on her face even after they got back to the hotel. Admittedly, it only got worse then, because Adrien - as Chat Noir - gave her a long goodbye kiss on her room's balcony.

Alya soft snoring greeted Marinette as she snuck back into her room. While Tikki whizzed over to the suitcase and made herself comfortable again, Marinette slipped back into bed.

It took her awhile to fall asleep. Her mind and body were still humming. However, eventually, sleep won over.

She dreamed of black cats and cute boys.

The rest of the trip was wonderful.

The next day at the beach, Marinette and Adrien laid their towels next to each other on the sand and then held hands like a pair of teenagers caught in the throes of love. That's not to say that's all they did at the beach, though. When Alya and Nino demanded some fun, Marinette and Adrien agreed.

The four played chicken, built sandcastles, and shared some of Nino's leftover snacks. Occasionally, Alya and Nino would try to tease Marinette and Adrien by acting like them. However, this backfired when Alya gave Nino a kiss on the cheek and caused his entire face to turn red.

Over the next week and a half, the four friends would become closer than ever. They learned together, they explored together, and they saw all sorts of wonderful, new things. Sometimes, Marinette and Adrien would sneak off together and have a little time to themselves. It was all so very new but also so very splendid.

Much too quickly, their trip reached an end. On the plane ride back, Adrien pushed up the armrest between them so that Marinette could snuggle up against him. As she did so, Marinette couldn't help but reflect on everything. Adrien, her friends, this trip.

She was in love, in more ways than one.

\- **x** \- **x** \- **x** -

 **A/N:** I hope y'all enjoyed this crazy one-shot. :)  
I went in with a simple challenge: to write a one-shot  
set in a town similar to the one I'm living in right now  
in South Korea!

This also was a nice break from writing my other Miraculous story,  
Entropy. By the way, if you liked this story, go check out that one!

By the way, if you ever do travel to South Korea,  
don't behave like a group of seventeen year old tourists.  
They're not good role models! Heehee.


End file.
